Yeasty Mosaic at Disney's California Adventure

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Wondering what this is? Words of description may be escaping you right now. Words such as red, odd, stripey, messy, a creative bomb, masterpiece?

That last word might be one you would pick if you are a lover of Gelli Prints like I am, and apparently lots of people on the internet.

A Gelli plate is a gellatin monoprinting plate. A Gelli print is a print that is "pulled" from the actual Gelli plate which has been covered with paint and textures and then relayered and relayered until the artist is satisfied. You can work on the same print for as long as you like until you are happy with the results.

I hope to use this print and more like it in similar colors to provide the background for some Valentine's cards I plan to make. The Gelli Plate can make even the most beginning artist feel pretty darn creative. Check back!

Sunday, January 5, 2014

When we were young and getting ready for a new school year, the absolute best thing to have was a box of 64 Crayola crayons (with an actual sharpener embedded in the box.) Way cool.

I went to look in my office drawer for such a box to show you and found that I actually had a 96 crayon box hidden away from an old project. I didn't even remember that.

Not 64, but 96 Crayola crayons

I checked further on the internet and it seems that Crayola now sells a box of 120 crayons (twice as many as when I was young) which is probably too many, but I wouldn't turn the box down.

I was talking with a friend about creating art and I thought about how inspiring any size new box of crayons could be to someone who is looking for a creative project to begin or work on again.

So my suggestion is to go out and buy a box of crayons -- any number of crayons will do -- and start a project with them. Draw and color in an art journal, print out some mandala patterns to color or make some greeting cards for Valentine's Day. Doesn't matter what you do just that you do something. And don't be intimidated by all of those perfectly sharpened, untouched tips on the crayons. Go ahead and use them.

So many artists on the web talk about not trying to be perfect in everything, to strive for progress not perfection.